"A photo of a mixed-race researcher?" Jodie recalled it for a moment, then remembered. "Oh, that young woman in a lab coat. Of course I remember. What's wrong?"
James glanced outside the door, then turned back and lowered his voice. "Yesterday at the pier—in other words, the place where Shuichi fought the Organization member—a first-year elementary student witnessed everything.
"I'd planned to find that child and ask about the situation, but after I spoke to a police officer who knew her, I discovered that she'd actually dyed her hair last night.
"On the surface, it was to look more formal when attending the charity tennis tournament, but in reality, I suspect she was deliberately using that method to cover up her true identity.
"And after removing the disguise, this is what she really looks like."
James felt in his pocket and took out a group photo he had gotten from who knew where. In one corner of it, a little mixed-race girl with distinctive hair color sat quietly, turned sideways to the camera.
Although only half her face was visible, it was not hard to see that she shared many similarities with the female researcher Vermouth had marked with a red cross.
Jodie recognized her at once and said in surprise, "It's her!"
James nodded. "Yesterday, didn't you say that when you resisted once, you scraped off Vermouth's disguise, and the face she revealed had no wrinkles and looked very young?
"Judging from this point, that fits our second hypothesis—it wasn't 'Sharon Vineyard' disguising herself as the young 'Chris Vineyard,' but the other way around: the young-looking 'Chris Vineyard' was pretending to be her elderly mother.
"In other words, that Organization may indeed possess some method capable of making people young again."
Jodie understood what this superior wanted to say.